-The Hindu A few thousand representatives of various people’s movements from across the country have gathered at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. They are Dalits, Adiviasis, sections of unprotected working class including farmers and fish-workers but they all form one ‘biradari’ of those who live off land, water, forest. They are the ones who produce, distribute, build, operate, clean, sell, drive and do all that enable society to survive, proceed...

-PTI Government auditor CAG on Friday said private firms are likely to gain Rs 1.86 lakh crore from coal blocks that were allocated to them on nomination basis instead of competitive bidding, which amounted to the loss to national exchequer. The CAG in its report, tabled in Parliament, names 25 companies including Essar Power, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Jindal Steel and Power which have got the blocks in various states. "Delay...

-The Times of India Neeraj Banerjee and his family are regular visitors to Nainital. This June, too, the Delhi-based computer engineer made a trip to what he calls his family's favourite tourist spot, nestling in the Kumaon hills at almost 2,000m above sea level. However, Banerjee says all they talked about this time was water — the paucity of it. "With summers being particularly harsh this year, things looked like they...

-The Economic Times This year's frail monsoon has depleted Indian reservoirs to alarming levels last seen during the devastating drought of 2009, threatening even winter-sown crops and making the country vulnerable to drinking water scarcity by February as India's grossly inadequate storage capacity magnifies the impact of weak rainfall. The situation is precarious because the monsoon has delivered normal rainfall to only one-third of the country. The total deficit so far this...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the issue of delayed payment to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) should be addressed at the earliest, and sought concurrent audit of rural development schemes. ”I am surprised to hear from (Rural Development Minister) Jairam Ramesh that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape. When I was in the Planning Commission long ago, I think we have started the...